Profiles of those aboard Flight 5191

Mar. 21, 2007 6:16 PM

Written by

The Courier-Journal

Jonathan Walton Hooker and Scarlett Catherine Parsley had gotten married on Saturday.

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Jon Hooker and Scarlett Parsley drove off from their wedding Saturday night in a horse-drawn carriage.

He was “dashing,” said Keith Madison, Hooker’s former baseball coach at the University of Kentucky. Parsley, a graduate of Centre College, was “beautiful in her wedding gown.”

Just hours later, bound for their honeymoon in southern California, they were killed in the crash of Comair Flight 5191, leaving stunned friends, family, neighbors and co-workers — like those of 47 other victims — grappling with unimaginable loss.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced such a drastic shift in emotions,” Madison said Sunday.

Other crash victims included a Habitat for Humanity official headed to the Gulf Coast to help a hurricane-ravaged community, horse trainers, owners and breeders, and the plane’s pilot and flight attendant.

Co-pilot James M. Polehinke was the crash’s lone survivor. He was in critical condition at UK’s Chandler Medical Center.

Here is information about the victims as identified by friends and family:

Rebecca Adams

Rebecca Adams was a project manager with Intergraph Corp., a Huntsville, Ala.-based software company, and was traveling for a work assignment in California, her company said.

Adams was a 47-year-old mother of three adult children and worked out of her home in Harrodsburg, Ky., according to Intergraph.

She was planning to fly to Atlanta and join other Intergraph colleagues for a flight to Sacramento, where they were to see Monday’s launch of a new 911 system they had helped set up in Elk Grove, Calif.

“Intergraph mourns our friend and colleague, Rebecca Adams,” the company said in a prepared statement. “…We are proud of her dedication to our customers, and her commitment to her Intergraph colleagues was inspiring. We remember Rebecca and keep her family in our thoughts and prayers.”

Services are tentatively planned for next Monday at St. Raphael Episcopal Church in Lexington.

Lyle Anderson and Christina Anderson

Lyle Anderson and his friend, Lexington horse trainer Kevin Thomas, had lunch on Friday afternoon, as they had dozens of times before.

Two days later, Anderson and his girlfriend, Christina Anderson, died as they took the flight as part of their trip to their homes in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

“I wish I could go back in time and know how important that lunch was,” Thomas said Monday.

Lyle Anderson, 55, was an investment banker in Canada, but his passion was for training and racing horses. He owned about 25 horses in Kentucky, Thomas said, and was in Lexington recently to race some of them, including one Thursday night at the Red Mile track.

Lyle Anderson owned the River Ridge Farm in Ottawa.

“He was loving every minute of it,” Thomas said of Anderson’s racing hobby, which Thomas said was taking more of his time, as a grown son handled the business back home.

Anderson also had an adult daughter but was not related to Christina Anderson despite the shared last names.

Christina Anderson had two young children, ages 3 and 5, Thomas said.

Thomas said he and Lyle Anderson spent several weeks in New York this summer racing horses and enjoying their friendship. Christina Anderson flew to New York to join them several times, he said, adding that she’d flown to Lexington on Saturday to join her boyfriend.

“Her laugh was almost scary it was so loud,” Thomas said. “His big smile and her laugh, when they were together they were like a couple of teenagers.”

Thomas said Lyle Anderson’s children eventually plan to come to Lexington, hoping to get a tour of the area their father loved so much.

Arnold Andrews

Arnold Andrews had come to Kentucky to attend a board meeting for the WestCare Foundation, a nonprofit company where he was a senior vice president and chief operating officer.

Andrews, 64, who lived in Tampa, Fla., managed the foundation’s substance abuse and mental-health treatment programs and facilities in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

He also had been executive director of Catholic Charities in the Tampa Bay area.

“He was one of the finest, most honorable human beings I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with,” Richard E. Steinberg, president of WestCare Foundation, said in a statement. “We have lost the best of the best.”

In 2005, Andrews was honored as the Hispanic Man of the Year by Tampa Hispanic Heritage Inc. for his public service.

He is survived by one daughter

Anne Marie Bailey

Anne Bailey was “terrifically excited” about coming to Kentucky horse country from Vancouver, Canada for a veterinary technician conference, said Dr. Edward Wiebe, Bailey’s employer.

Bailey, 49, was on her way home to Vancouver when the Comair flight went down.
Wiebe described Bailey as a dedicated employee who had a way of making people smile. She also managed to keep the veterinary practice at Vancouver’s Hastings Park Racecourse in line.

“She kept us straight, kept us organized,” said Wiebe.

Bailey never complained and kept a positive attitude even during early mornings, late nights or rainy days.

“She was very outgoing,” Wiebe said. “She knew every groom by name. She knew all the horses.”

Bobbie and Clark Benton

The couple from Stanford, Ky., were on their way to Aruba for vacation, said Clark Benton’s mother, Rebexie Benton.

She declined to comment more other than to say that Clark was 48-years-old and Bobbie was 50.

George Brunacini

George Brunacini was a Georgetown, Ky., horse breeder and farm owner who enjoyed his privacy and loved his horses and family, said Emilie Fojan, his partner for the past eight or nine years.

Brunacini, a 60-year-old native of Albuquerque, was flying to New Mexico, where he has construction and development businesses, for a meeting today with his attorney, Fojan said.

Brunacini was a pilot, and Fojan said she had just persuaded him to sell his own plane.

“This is so devastating,” she said. “… Honestly I feel like he’s going to walk in the front door, ’cause he was so full of life. He was not afraid of anything.”

Brunacini bought the Georgetown farm, Bona Terra, 10 years ago.

He bred Flower Alley, the winner of last year’s Lane’s End Stakes at Turfway Park and Travers Stakes at Saratoga. The horse finished ninth in the 2005 Kentucky Derby.

He did everything at the farm, which has 50 mares, Fojan said, from “foaling the babies to taking the mares to the breeding shed too.”

“He wasn’t in it for the money,” she said. “It was totally love for him. He loved his horses.”

He is survived by three daughters and a son, all of whom live in Albuquerque, Fojan said. She said they were on their way to Kentucky.

Carole Bizzack

Carole Bizzack of Lexington was planning to meet a sister to go an Alaska cruise.

Bizzack, 64, was the wife of John W. Bizzack, Commissioner of the Department of Criminal Justice Training. She was an avid traveler who raised horses and dogs on Bittersweet Station Farm in Lexington, where she and her husband lived.

“We are devastated by the loss of such a vibrant, loving individual,” said a family statement released by the department. “Carole brought kindness, joy and smiles to everyone around her.”

The couple was married for 35 years and has two children: a son, Jason, 26, of Lexington and a daughter, Stacey, 24, of Tampa, Fla.

Carole Bizzack was planning to meet a sister in Atlanta, from which they were planning to go to Alaska for a cruise. Bizzack’s interest in traveling also had prompted her to visit to Australia and New Zealand.

She was an “animal lover and avid rider,” the department statement said, adding that her dogs followed her everywhere on the farm.

She was a member of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Lexington.

Brian Byrd and Judy Rains

Brian Byrd and Judy Rains were flying to St. Lucia in the Caribbean, where they were to be married Tuesday.

Invitations to a Sept. 9 reception in Kentucky said, “We’re getting ready to depart on a romantic trip, which is only the start of a great adventure,” according to Chase Trimble, a friend of Rains.

“I always called her the dog lady,” Trimble said, because she operated K-9 Design, a pet grooming and boarding shop in Richmond.

Their death is a shock, Trimble said, adding that Rains’ father, Rodney Rains had told him, “This’ll hit me in a day or two, and it’s liable to kill me.”

Jeffrey Clay - pilot

Jeffrey Clay had been a Comair captain since 2004, hired in November 1999.
He was 35, married with two children, and he lived in Burlington, Ky.

“He was strong, he was tough, he was dedicated,” Clay’s older brother, James, of Vineland, N.J., told The Daily Journal in Vineland.

“He was everything that most people look for in themselves. He had it all.”
Jeffrey Clay was a 1988 graduate of Vineland High School, where he was a wrestler, the newspaper reported.

“He’s a super-hard worker. His values were superb,” former coach Dennis Miller said. “As a coach, we became an integral part of kids’ lives. But in Jeff’s case, he probably influenced us more than we did him.

“He was a fine young man, a bright young man.”

Homer and Diane Combs

Homer and Diane Combs of Lexington were among those killed on Comair Flight 5191, according to their company, Systems Design Group of Lexington.

Both were long-time employees of the information services company, the company said in a statement. Homer Combs was senior vice president and one of four partners in the firm. Two of his brothers are also partners.

The couple was not traveling for business, the company said in a statement on its Web site.

“This is a horrific tragedy for everyone,” the statement said. “…We are honoring the family’s privacy request and are not at liberty to release any additional information regarding this situation. We ask everyone to please honor the family’s privacy as well during this time of sadness.”

Further information and a link to e-mail condolences can be found at: www.sdgky.com/mourn.php.

Fenton Dawson

Fenton Dawson, 46, of Lexington worked in information management for Affiliated Computer Services Inc., and was headed to Washington, D.C., on a business trip, according to his brother, Mont Dawson.

Originally from Cadiz, Fenton Dawson held two degrees — a bachelor’s in computer science and a master’s of business administration, from UK, Mont Dawson said.

He leaves behind a wife, Marsha; a 10-year-old daughter, Madeline; and a 6-year-old son, Chase.

Fenton Dawson was “a great father” who spent a lot of time with his family and coached his son in soccer, his brother said. “It was not all about work with him.”

Fenton Dawson had been an All-America track and cross country athlete at Trigg County High School, and he played football and basketball as well, Mont Dawson said. He graduated second in his class, his brother said.

He enjoyed playing volleyball and was a season-ticket holder for UK football, Mont Dawson said. He spent most of his adult life in Lexington, except for three or four years when he lived in Ohio.

“Everyone that knows him would just say he was an all-around great person,” Mont Dawson said.

Paige Winters and Thomas Fahey

Winters

Fahey

Paige Winters, 16, and Thomas Fahey, a 26-year-old horse trainer, both of Leawood, Kan., had come to Lexington to look for a horse for Paige, according to Brad Manson, an attorney and family friend.

Paige’s mother, Joan, was also on the trip but stayed to take a later flight because the early one was booked, Manson said.

Mike Finley

Mike Finley, who owns three roller skating rinks called Finley’s Fun Centers — in London, Somerset and Danville, was also aboard the flight. A manager at the skating rink in London said the family did not wish to make any comment.

C.W. Fortney II

Clarence Wayne “C.W.” Fortney II had dreamed of flying planes since he was a small boy, always asking his parents to take him to the nearby town airport and watch for planes coming in.

That dream came true when Fortney became a commuter pilot and eventually a pilot and first officer for Air Tran Airways.

“It was a difficult thing to get, but he finally made it, he was a major airline pilot,” said his father, Clarence Wayne Fortney, of Clay City.

Fortney, 34, was among those killed while traveling Sunday morning on Comair Flight 5191. He was headed to Atlanta, where he was scheduled to be on the crew of an Air Tran flight later that day.

“Of course, everybody thinks their son was the greatest, but anybody that knew him would tell you he was just the greatest boy that ever was,” his father said.

The younger Fortney leaves a “wonderful wife,” Sarah, and a 16-month-old boy, Calvin, his father said. They lived in Lexington.

“He had everything he wanted,” his father said.

C.W. was his and his wife Andrea’s only child, he said. They plan to help support Sarah as she raises the child.

“I’m just killed,” his father said. “I’ve just got to go on. I won’t be able to do as good as him, but I’ve got to take care of this boy.”

Bart Frederick

A woman answering the phone at the Frederick house in Danville, Ky. confirmed that Bart Frederick was on the plane but said the family declined to comment.

Hollie Gilbert

A manager at Finley’s Fun Center in London, Ky., confirmed that Hollie Gilbert was on the airplane. She was a promotions manager for the businesses run by Mike Finley, who also was on the plane.

Erik Harris, Priscilla Johnson, Bobby Meaux and Cecile Moscoe

Erik Harris

Priscilla Johnson

Bobby Meaux

Cecile Moscoe

All four were employees of Galls, a Lexington-based company that makes public safety equipment and gear.

“It is impossible to put into words the sorrow I feel personally, as well as the collective loss the entire Galls team is experiencing right now,” wrote Gary Christensen, company president in an email to his employees Sunday.

Cecile Moscoe, Erik Harris and Bobby Meaux were traveling to New Orleans to distribute uniforms to the New Orleans Police Department.

Priscilla Johnson had been on the plane to begin a vacation.

Moscoe was a managed account representative who had worked for the company for about four years.

Meaux was also a managed account representative and worked for Galls for 6 ½ years.

Harris was a sales team leader who had worked for Galls for 2 ½ years.

Johnson worked at Galls for 16 years, most recently working with the export team.

“The contributions of these associates will be greatly missed,” Christensen wrote.

The company provided counselors to help grieving employees and family members, said Sarah Jarvis, a company spokeswoman. Several people showed up at the company on Sunday so they could grieve together and offer each other support.

Kelly Heyer - flight attendent

Kelly Heyer, 27, was a flight attendant on Flight 5191. He’d been hired in 2004.

His family declined to comment when reached by phone at their home in Detroit Lakes, Minn. Heyer’s brother, who did not give his name, said the family was leaving to come to Kentucky.

Connie Slayback, president of the flight attendants union, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that Heyer (pronounced Higher) was a popular, outgoing employee, whom she made a base representative last month at JFK International Airport in New York.

“The flight attendants are taking this very hard — he was very well liked,” she said.
Jim Hoeh, a friend of Heyer’s, told the Enquirer that he spoke to him for about an hour on Saturday night.

Hoeh said that at about 8 p.m., Heyer said he had to hang up and go to bed because he had a 6 a.m. flight, and the passengers would expect their flight attendant to be on his game.

“We just said hey, caught up on things,” Hoeh, of Cheviot, said yesterday afternoon while watching news coverage of the crash. “It was just dumb talk. I never would’ve thought it would’ve been the last time we talked.”

He’s still not sure where Heyer was when they talked, since he lived in Northern Kentucky but commuted to his base at JFK in New York. Heyer switched bases because of the airline’s bankruptcy to get a higher spot on the seniority list, Hoeh said.

He recently became a union representative for the flight attendants.

“He was a stand-up individual,” said Tracey Riley, a union recording secretary and fellow flight attendant. “He was very professional, loved his job.”

Hoeh said he and Heyer met three years ago when Heyer came to Cincinnati for his flight attendant training. Both needed a roommate, and a mutual friend introduced them. They lived together for a while.

Heyer was a big reader who made a conscious effort to support downtown clubs and restaurants. He frequented the Zen & Now Coffee House in Bridgetown. And he loved to talk politics, Hoeh said. “He would respect your opinion, but he loved to debate.”

Hoeh couldn’t stop himself from wondering what his friend was doing just before he died.

“Was he belted into his seat, which would’ve been just behind the cockpit door? Was he helping the passengers? Did he suffer?

“I guess we might never know,” he said. “But I just wanted people to know he was a good person.”

Jonathan Walton Hooker and Scarlett Catherine Parsley

It was just hours after a joyous wedding reception that family and friends learned that Jonathan Hooker and Scarlett Parsley had been killed on their way to their honeymoon in Southern California.

“We’re just in shock,” said Parsley’s mother, Gloria, interviewed briefly last night with her husband, John. “We’re just in disbelief. We had a beautiful big wedding for them. … They were so happy.”

“It’s just such a tragedy.”

Hooker, a former pitcher for the University of Kentucky baseball team, and Parsley were married Saturday in an outdoor ceremony at Lexington’s Headley-Whitney Museum, said Hooker’s baseball coach, Keith Madison.

Hooker played baseball while a student at UK from 1997 to 2001. “He was the guy we went to at the end of the game in tough situations,” Madison said.

On the field, Hooker was a fierce competitor. But off the field, Madison said, Hooker was a loveable, strong person.

After graduation, Hooker was drafted by the Chicago White Sox. He then went on to play professionally for Independent League teams in Fargo, N.D. and Joliet, Ill.

He had been working as a counselor for Cumberland River Comprehensive Care, according to the wedding announcement that ran last week in The (London) Sentinel-Echo.

Parsley, 23, graduated from Centre College and was pursuing a master’s degree in communication disorders at UK, according to her mother.

“She was going to be a speech pathologist,” Gloria Parsely said.

Willie Sawyers, publisher of The Sentinel Echo, said he coached Hooker in Little League baseball and that he was a “fine, upstanding young man.”

Tetsuya and Nahoko Kono

The Konos loved to travel, taking every opportunity to do so since moving to the United States from Japan in February 2005.

On Sunday, the couple was headed for a vacation to Yosemite National Park.

“They loved America and they wanted to see it,” said Amy Lindon, a spokeswoman for LBX, the Lexington company where Tetsuya Kono worked.

Tetsuya, known as Tetsu by colleagues, came to the U.S. to work for LBX, which manufactures link belt earth-moving equipment. He was a design engineer who acted as a liaison to the company’s parent company in Japan, Sumitomo, said Amy Lindon, a spokeswoman for LBX.

“We were very fortunate to have him here,” Lindon said.

Tetsuya Kono, 34, always wore a smile. He carried his pocket English translation dictionary with him everywhere as he tried to improve his English skills, Lindon said.

He’d even joined the company’s softball league. “He fit right in to the community.”

His wife, Nahoko, was 31 years old.

The couple had no children.

Charles Lykins

Charles Lykins, 47, of Naples, Fla., "was visiting friends and family, and he was going back home," said a friend, Paul Richardson of Winchester, Ky. "He took the earlier flight to get back with his family."

Lykins was married with two young children in Naples, Richardson said.

Teresa Young, the mother-in-law of one of Lykins' brothers, said he was "loved dearly by his family and his friends," calling him a "dynamic young man who stood for what was right."

Young, of Naples, said Lykins was in Kentucky playing in a golf tournament and visiting family.

She said Lykins' family originally is from Winchester, and moved years ago to Naples, where he was an owner of Lykins-Signtek, which Young said makes street signs, mailboxes and other kinds of signage.

"He was a real successful man," Richardson said, adding that he'd been in touch with Lykins' family.

"It is a whole lot of people in not good spirits. And they are not telling us anything," he said when interviewed early in the day. "Surely they could put out a list by now."

Dan Mallory

Dan Mallory, owner of Meadow Haven Farm in Bourbon County, was on his way to the Fasig-Tipton horse sales in Texas, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, according to his wife Edith.

Mallory was 55 and had three grown children, along with a 10-year-old son with his wife, Edith Mallory.

Dan Mallory drove himself to Bluegrass airport Sunday morning to catch the flight, his wife said. He was president of the Kentucky Farm Managers' Club in 1989, according to The Bloodhorse magazine, and he bred several stakes, including graded winners American Spirit and Traces of Gold.

Steve McElravy

Steve McElravy, 57,of Hagerstown, Md., worked in the field of drug and alcohol abuse for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"He was a wonderful boy," said his aunt, Beverly McElravy of Nebraska. Steve McElravy lived with her while he attended the University of Nebraska, where he was in the band.

McElravy had come to Lexington for a conference, said a spokeswoman for his agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration.

Beverly McElravy said her nephew went into his job field after having talks with her husband, a social worker.

Bruce McElravy of Lincoln, Neb., said his brother Steve McElravy "felt like he had a calling to help people. He said he saw his brother recently when he returned to Nebraska to visit family.

Steve McElravy had two children and a stepdaughter with his current wife and a grown son from a previous marriage, his brother said.

Lynda McKee

Lynda McKee lived for her grandchildren and was on her way to Alabama to spend time with them when she died Sunday morning in Flight 5191.

McKee, of Richmond, Ky., loved antiques and worked at the gift shop in the Patty Clay Hospital, said her best friend, Debbie Sims. She also enjoyed camping at Cave Run Lake.

"She loved her family to no end," Sims said.

McKee was a mother of two with two grandchildren, 2-year-old Caleb and 6-month-old Alex.

Her family and friends gathered at her home in Richmond Monday, waiting to make plans for her funeral, which will be in Flemingsburg once her body is released, Sims said.

Leslie Morris II and Kaye Morris

Leslie Morris

Kaye Morris

Leslie and Kaye Morris were headed to Seattle to start an Alaskan cruise, said J. David Smith, a co-worker of Leslie Morris at the law firm of Stoll Keenon Ogden.

Leslie Morris practiced law with the Lexington firm for 48 years, retiring last year as a partner but continuing to handle cases, Smith said.

"He was one of the best trial lawyers in Kentucky," Smith said. "He was a wonderfully kind gentleman."

Morris, 72, was a father of two and a grandfather, Smith said.

"He had a sharp, dry wit that we all enjoyed these many years," he said.

Smith did not know Kaye's age but said the couple had been married about six years.

Michael Ryan

After his Saturday night flight was canceled, Michael Ryan was re-routed to a Comair flight early Sunday, said his mother-in-law, Helen Warnecke.

It was the flight that crashed, killing him and all but one aboard.

Warnecke recalled that when the Saturday flight was canceled, he came home and spent a final evening with relatives.

"We were all going to Picnic with the Pops, so we had that family affair," Warnecke said.

Ryan, 55, was on one of the frequent business trips he took , she said. He was a professional lecturer in currency trading.

He is survived by his wife, Kathryn, a daughter, Caitlyn, 12, and a son, Colton, 11, she said.

Ryan was a native of Ireland, who was expecting five of his relatives to visit him in Lexington this coming weekend, Warnecke said. Instead, one brother was expected to arrive today, and his six other siblings are considering whether to make the visit.

"They had so many plans" for the visit, she said.

He was the oldest sibling. His parents are deceased, she said.

Ryan and his family lived in an exclusive Lexington community known as The Island. He played golf and liked to play miniature golf with his children and go camping with his family, Warnecke said.

The couple had been remodeling their home for the past year. "They were just beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel," she said.

Pat Smith

Pat
Smith was a Habitat for Humanity International Board of Directors member and Lexington resident who was on his way to Mississippi for the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, said Mary Shearer, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Kentucky.

Shearer learned of his death through an e-mail from the Lexington Habitat chapter Sunday morning. "It was devastating," Shearer said.

"He was such a wonderful man. His heart was definitely in the right place," Shearer said.

Smith was going to help with construction of the first 13 houses that Kentucky is helping to build in the coastal section of Mississippi hit by Katrina, Shearer said. He'd been there previously, doing work.

In a July 30 Courier-Journal story, Smith was quoted about his experience rebuilding in Mississippi. He said he drew satisfaction from working with victims: "When they see someone coming down and helping them, you can see a sparkle in their eye and a glimmer of hope that they can get it back together."

Shearer said Smith was a dedicated Habitat volunteer who had been the visionary for the construction of 161 houses in India in 2005, after a tsunami struck that region.

H.C. Baker traveled with Smith to India and was impressed with his
ability to organize, as well as his ability to roll up his sleeves
and build.

"He had a way of connecting people," Baker said.
"It's a gift. There are not a lot of people who are just doers."

His international work involved 36 trips to Ghana, where he built
houses and a Catholic church, said Grant Philps, executive director
for Habitat in Lexington.

"He was always positive, always having a great day and just was
tireless," Phelps said. "His spirit and approach to life
was filled with vigor."

He was also dedicated to his family, including his wife, Jean, their
two children and his grandchildren, Phelps said.

His role in helping to build for those in need will be difficult to
fill, said those who remembered him Sunday.

"He was just so kind," Shearer said. "We will never be
able to replace him. A lot of people loved him."

The Habitat Web site listed Smith as a board member and co-owner of
Versa Tech Automation, LLC.

Mary Jane Silas

Mary Jane Silas, 58, was returning to Columbus, Miss., after spending a few days in Kentucky working to resolve the estate of her late mother, according to The Associated Press.

"She was a radiant person," said Ron Harper, president of Logista, an information services company in Columbus where had worked for the past six years.

"She had a smile for everyone," he said. "… She will be missed. She was a very popular employee."

Timothy Snoddy

Timothy K. Snoddy was headed to his Fort Lauderdale, Fla., office for three days of business meetings when he died.

Snoddy, 51, owned his own consulting business, Snoddy Consulting Inc., where he was a CPA, forensic accountant, business valuator and litigation consultant.

The business, based in Lexington, also has offices in North Carolina and Florida, according to a statement released yesterday by his son, Matthew Snoddy.

Timothy Snoddy flew regularly between offices and was a frequent flier on Delta and Comair.

Snoddy was an avid University of Kentucky basketball and football fan, having graduated from UK in 1976. He often spent weekends waterskiing or riding his horses, Matthew Snoddy wrote.

"He was known as a warm, generous and charismatic gentleman epitomizing the Kentucky spirit," his son wrote.

He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Snoddy of Lexington; his sister, Terrie Stuart of Louisville; his three children, Matthew Snoddy of Lexington, Jocelynn Morgan of Sierra Madre, Calif., and Joshua Snoddy of Catlettsburg, Ky.; and three grandchildren.

Marcie Thomason

Thomason, 25, was in Lexington for a party in advance of her wedding next month, said Steve Fugmann, her former high school soccer coach at Henry Clay High School.

She was working as a certified public accountant in Washington, D.C., after attending the University of Virginia.

Fugmann said after hearing that one person on the plane had survived, "I honestly thought it may be her" because she was such a strong player. Her nickname was "The Rock," he said.

Thomason was the oldest of three sisters, all of whom have played soccer, said Fugmann and Charles Atinay, Henry Clay's athletics director and another of Thomason's former coaches.

"She and her family are the reason people get into coaching and teaching and the reason people stay in coaching and teaching," Fugmann said.

Thomason was the daughter of Bill Thomason, who is a manager at Mill Ridge Farm in Lexington, where 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo was foaled.

Greg Threet

A friend answering the phone at his Lexington home confirmed Threet had been on the airplane but said family declined to comment.

Randy Towles

Randy Towles, 47, of Watertown, N.Y., had driven to Kentucky to help a friend move and was on his way home when he died in the crash of Flight 5191.

Towles leaves his wife, Valerie, whom he met when he was delivering pizza to her. They were married nearly seven years. He also leaves a daughter from a previous marriage, Sarah Forgione, 24, of Germany.

Towles had recently attained his long-time dream of becoming a personal trainer. He helped train high school lacrosse and football players and was hoping to return to college so that he could teach physical education, said Craig Thornton, his wife's cousin.

"He was a very affable person, easy to get along with," Thornton said, adding that he would never join in a conversation disparaging others.

"He had a great sense of humor," Thornton added, recalling that at an annual family Halloween party, Towles dressed up like one of mimes in the Blue Man Group, which required such heavy makeup that it dripped everywhere. "For two weeks afterward I found little spots of blue all over the house," Thornton recalled with a chuckle.

Thornton said the family is coping as best as it can.

"The hard part now is dealing with the return and the identification of the remains," he said, adding that a funeral will be scheduled once that is completed.

Larry Turner

The University of Kentucky confirmed that Larry Turner, an associate dean for extension and the director of the cooperative extension service was on the plane.

Turner started his career at UK in 1978 and began overseeing the extension service in 2002. He oversaw the work of 1,000 people in 120 counties in the state.

"He undoubtedly touched countless lives with his deep integrity, commitment and gentle nature," UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. said in a statement.

Turner's family declined to comment.

Victoria Washington

A veteran of both the U.S. Army and Navy, Victoria Washington was bound for West Palm Beach, Fla., to help take care of her ailing brother and his wife.

Washington, 54, spent 20 years in the Navy, meeting her husband and traveling the world before eventually retiring a decade ago.

She had spent eight years in the Army before joining the Navy, said her daughter, Bobbi Washington, 23.

Washington and her husband, James, moved to Richmond, Ky. just over two years ago, having decided to return home to Kentucky after their retirement. She was born in Breckinridge County and lived many years in Louisville.

Bobbi Washington described her mother as a caring person who was known for giving great hugs and who liked to sing.

She'd joined a new church in Richmond and was planning on joining the choir, as she had done at their former church in Owensboro.

"I keep remembering her sounds," Bobbi Washington said. "When she got excited she would squeal, when she was doing something devious she would chuckle, and I just remember her laugh. She was always laughing."

Jeff Williams

River Downs in Cincinnati said horse trainer Jeff Williams was among those aboard the flight Sunday morning.

Williams, 49, got into the training business through his association with Polo Ponies and the Dayton Polo Club in Centerville, Ohio. He worked with W.E. "Smiley" Adams in the late 1970s as an assistant trainer. He then worked with Ohio's Woodburn Farm through the 1980s.

He won 13 stakes races at River Downs, including four wins of the Hoover Stakes for 2-year-olds.

His brother, Kim Williams, reached at his home at the Fair Winds Farm in Waynesville, Ohio, declined to comment on the crash.

In the statement from River Downs, Dayton attorney Larry Denny remembered his friend Williams fondly.

"He was an outstanding trainer of young horses," Denny said. "One of the best caretakers I'd ever seen."

Over the past several years, Williams based his training at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington

Bryan Woodward

WATE 6 photo, Knoxville

Bryan Woodward was headed home to Lafayette, La., when he died aboard Comair Flight 5191.

"He was one of the greatest fathers," said Linda Hebert, his mother-in-law who declined to comment further but confirmed he was on the plane.

He was married with two children.

The Lafayette Airport Commission also confirmed that a passenger on Flight 5191 was headed for Lafayette's airport.

Joanne Wright

Joanne Wright of Cincinnati was "so excited" about going on a dream cruise to the Bahamas, said her cousin, William McCommons.

She had gone to Lexington to join another cousin, Galls employee Priscilla Johnson, for the trip, which was to begin with Flight 5191.

Once a week, she would pick up her mother, in her 80s, and take her socializing.

"They were very happy people," another cousin, Janet Howard-Page, told the Enquirer. "I can see their faces now. Always very outgoing. You remembered them because they always had smiles on their faces."

Wright's mother and brother spent much of Sunday and yesterday in Lexington. She is survived by one son.

Betty Young

An unidentified family member confirmed that Betty Young, of Lexington, was a victim of Sunday's plane crash.

"We are just trying to get through today," said the relative, who answered the phone at Young's home but declined to give his name.